Follow Chris at Citizen.subtsack to see what happens next!

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--

Where the Schools Went: The most radical education experiment in American history, told by the people who lived it.

August 2025 marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina altered New Orleans forever. Much has been written about the storm’s destruction and the city’s long road to recovery. But tucked behind those headlines is another story. One that shaped the lives of thousands of children. From The Branch in partnership with The 74 and MeidasTouch, Where the Schools Went is a five-part documentary series about what happened to the city’s schools after the levees broke, and how it led to the most radical education experiment in modern American history.

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• A Pandemic of Stupid (Verbatim, 7/17/25)

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• Support for Testing and Accountability Is Waning. Is Politics to Blame? (The 74, 7/21/25)

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• The Rise of AI Will Make Liberal Arts Degrees Popular Again. (Inc., 7/14/25)

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Nicholas is the founder and executive director of the National Center for Restorative Justice and the author of A Real-World Guide to Restorative Justice in Schools: Practical Philosophy, Useful Tools, and True Stories.

The Restorative Schools Conference is June 26th and 27th in Portland, Oregon.

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Dominic Lawson is an award-winning producer who has made his mark in the mental health space. Dominic’s work has been recognized with numerous accolades. His podcast Black is America won a Webby Award in 2023. 

*Note: this episode contains discussion about mental health issues, including suicide.

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Conor Williams is a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, and an expert on urban education reform, English learner students, children of immigrants, early education programs, and school choice systems. He is also a founding partner with the Children’s Equity Project.

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Emory Edwards is the Vice President of Outreach at Ed Choice. 

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Dr. Michael Strambler is a clinical psychologist and directs Child Wellbeing and Education Research at The Consultation Center at Yale.

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Shaka Mitchell serves as a Senior Fellow for the American Federation for Children.

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Kenya Bradshaw is the CEO at Reconstruction, a curriculum technology company focused on developing and teaching K-12 supplemental curriculum that situates Black people, Black culture, and Black contributions to American and world history in an authentic, identity-affirming way so that students of all backgrounds benefit from a more complete understanding of our shared history and society.

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Our guests today:

• Justin Dent, Executive Director of Outschool.org
• Amy Anderson, Executive Director of Reschool Colorado

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• ‘We’re the Outliers’: Ashley Rogers Berner on Public Funding for Private Schools (The 74, 2/27/25)

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Also check out...

• Kate with Barney in the 90s!

• And some additional reading
• The Educational Approach of Barney and Friends (PBS)

• Barney: 5 Best Life Lessons From The Children's Show (& 5 Worst) (ScreenRant 12/21/20)

• Impact Of Barney And Friends Programme On Cognitive Development Among Early Childhood (University of Malaysia Sabah)

• Impact of Barney and Friends Programme on Social Skills among Early Childhood (University of Malaysia Sabah)

• Experts Ponder Academic Value of ‘Barney’ (EdWeek 2/22/93)

• Welcome to the World of Barney and Friends: A Global Journey of Interactive Learning and New Beginnings in Australia (LinkedIn, 1/13/25)

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• Is Trump Gutting Education Research a New Beginning or Just ‘Slashing & Burning’? (The 74, 2/11/25)
• The Data Defense: Taking Stock of How IES Funding Fuels America’s Global Competitiveness and National Security (Linkedin, 2/13/25)

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• Betsy DeVos: Shut Down the Department of Education (The Free Press, 2/6/25)

• At Least 10 Student Loan And Federal Aid Programs Run By The Department Of Education May Be Cut (Forbes, 2/10/25)

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• My Wicked Prior Knowledge (Comrade Chris, 11/30/24)

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• Barefoot and Pregnant (Comrade Chris, 1/8/25)

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• College for Some (Comrade Chris, 1/4/25)

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We’d love to hear from you!

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• Who’s on Board for a Child-Saving School Support Movement? (EdPost, 12/3/19)

• NEA Moonshots (National Education Association, 7/25/24)

• 7 Ways To Improve The Quality Of Education In The U.S. (Stand Together)

• In Defense of Public Education (Education International, 4/14/23)

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• For The Love Of God: We Are Called To Support Public Schools In Every Way We Can (Comrade Chris, 11/27/24)

• A Religious Upbringing May Fuel Academic Success. Here’s How. (Deseret, 2/19/22)

• A Link Between Church Attendance and Academic Achievement? (Initiative on Faith & Public Life, 1/15/15)

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We’d love to hear from you!

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We’d love to hear from you!

• Leave us a voicemail at (321) 213-9171
• Or send us an email at citizenstewartshow@thebranchmedia.org

We’d love to hear from you!

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• Searching for the Tipping Point: Scaling Up Public School Choice Spurs Citywide Gains (Progressive Policy Institute, 10/10/24)

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We’d love to hear from you!

• Leave us a voicemail at (321) 213-9171‬
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We’d love to hear from you!

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• Unschooling: The Radical Education Trend Raising Eyebrows (The Week, 7/10/24)

• ‘Unschooling’ is Trending—Teachers Take to TikTok With Perspective (The Everymom, 8/21/24)

• What Is Unschooling And Why Is It Stirring Up Tiktok? (The Fast Company, 8/13/24)

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• Why Teacher Unions Are Good for Teachers—and the Public (American Federation of Teachers (Winter 2006-2007)
• How Teachers' Unions Let Kids Down (Hoover Institute, 1/30/97)

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• A Great American Democrat (by Chris Stewart)

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• The School-to-Work Movement: Four Reports Look Back (Edutopia, 7/1/01)
• Expanding Opportunity (Bellwether, 03/01/23)
• From Red States & Blue, Collaborating to Create Pathways to Future for Students (The 74, 9/20/22)

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• Oklahoma Court Rejects Proposed Religious Public Charter School (WaPo, 6/25/24)
• Billions In Taxpayer Dollars Now Go To Religious Schools Via Vouchers (WaPo, 6/3/24)
• Oklahoma Social Studies Education To Be Reformed With Help Of Conservative Influencers (The Hill, 7/9/24)
• Religious ‘Nones’ in America: Who They Are and What They Believe (Pew Research, 1/24/24)

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• Congress Poured Billions Of Dollars Into Schools. Did It Help Students Learn? (NPR, 6/26/24)
• Pandemic Aid For Schools Is Ending Soon. Many After-School Programs May Go With It (NPR, 6/10/24)

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• Chronic Absenteeism In The Nation's Schools (Department of Education)
• Why School Absences Have ‘Exploded’ Almost Everywhere (NYT, 3/29/24)
• Oakland Paid Chronically Absent Students to Come to School. Here’s How It Went (SF Chronicle, 6/26/24)

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Each week on NPU Live, four moms discuss the most important news about our children's education and offer practical advice on how you can get involved.

Subscribe to NPU Live on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts!

• The Summer-Camp Feeding Frenzy Has Already Begun (Atlantic, 1/26/23)
• Summer Camp Cost: Breaking Down The Price Of Day, Sleep-Away, And Specialty Camps (Care, 3/6/24)
• 11 Summer Childcare Options For Any Schedule And Every Budget (Care, 4/4/24)

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• The Fine Art of Under Scheduling (Slate, 5/19/24)
• Working Parents’ Calendars Are Taken Over by Kid Concerts, 'Moving Up' Ceremonies (Bloomberg, 5/29/24)

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• It’s Been 70 Years Since Brown V. Board Of Education. The US Is Still Trying To Achieve The Promise Of Integration. (CNN, 5/17/24)

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• More College Programs Are Slowly Coming Into Prisons (The Virginian-Pilot, 11/23/23)

• The Federal Government Is Shelling Out $130 Million To Bring Free College To About 30,000 Inmates In Places Like Folsom Prison (Fortune, 6/28/23)

• The Societal Benefits Of Postsecondary Prison Education (Brookings, 8/20/21)

• Serving Time or Wasting Time? (Rand, 2013)

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• Public school enrollment is falling nationwide, and Census Bureau data shows that K -12 enrollment continued its downward trajectory in 2022, and experts say it’s more than just declining birth rates. (NBC)
• Chronic absenteeism can be solved (EdWeek)
• Students losing ground in history and civics (MSN)
• Charter school enrollment is growing (NAPCS)
• A Case Study: Inside a rural Iowa school district’s fight to save public education (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

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• Crackdowns on Protests Are Exposing Higher Ed’s Complicity in Israel’s Genocide (Truthout, 4/27/24)
• Campus Thuggery Is No Way to Cultivate Citizens (Education Next, 4/23/24)

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---

And be sure to subscribe to The Branch’s new podcast NPU Live: The National Parent’s Union Podcast! Each week, Keri Rodrigues, Keri Tafshier Cosby, Ariel Taylor Smith, and Bernita Bradley dive into the issues that matter most: Education, economics, and the barriers our children face in today’s America. 

• Chris’s TikTok on the matter

• How Gen Z Is Becoming the Toolbelt Generation (WSJ, 4/1/24)

• ‘People Are Starting To Smell A Rat’: Mike Rowe Blasts 4-Year College Degrees, Calling Your Diploma On The Wall ‘a Receipt’ — Here’s What He Sees As A ‘Clear Path’ To Prosperity (MoneyWise, 4/12/24)

• Researchers Submitted 83,000 Fake Job Apps To See If The Biggest U.S. Companies Discriminate. Here’s What They Found (Fast Company, 4/11/24)

Be sure to check out Chris’s appearance on Tim Pool’s pod!

• My Nemesis Invited Me To Tim Pool's Show (Citizen Stewart, 4/13/24)

The Branch's series on "An Unbiased History of Israel/Palestine" is nominated for a Webby in the "Best Limited Series" category! Vote here: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2024/podcasts/limited-series-specials/news-politics

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• What Public K-12 Teachers Want Americans To Know About Teaching (Pew, 4/4/24)
• It’s Even Bleaker for Teachers Than You Thought (Time, 4/4/24)
• Teacher Absenteeism Epitomizes Our Failed Pandemic Recovery (The Education Daily, 3/18/24)

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• What Lies Ahead For Teachers Unions’ Common Good Agendas (CRPE, 3/4/24)
• How Often Do Teacher Strikes Happen? (USA Facts, 4/5/23)
• Teachers Unions Are Bad for Teachers. Here’s Why (Discourse, 4/12/21)

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• House Tiktok Bill Gives Bytedance 6 Months To Sell. That’s Unlikely. (WaPo, 3/17/24)
• Lawmakers Are Trying To Ban Tiktok. But The App Is Hardly The Only Offender (CNN, 3/16/24)
• TikTok Prompts Users to Call Congress to Fight Possible Ban (NYT, 3/7/24)

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• Summit Public Schools
• Avalon
• Northwest Passages Academy 
• Wildflower Schools
• Goldwater Institute
• What Schools Could Be

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• Should We Fear the Woke A.I.? (NYT, 2/24/24)

• The Deeper Problem With Google’s Racially Diverse Nazis (Atlantic, 2/26/24)

• Kids Get Schooled on Radical Politics (The Free Press, 2/22/24)

• The Right Has Been Pushing “Free-Market” Propaganda in US Public Schools for Over a Century (Jacobin, 6/12/23)

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• Race And LGBTQ Issues In K-12 Schools: What Teachers, Teens And The U.S. Public Say About Current Curriculum Debates (Pew Research Center, 2/22/24)

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And if you’re in DC, come see Ravi debating ESAs live, this Thursday (or tune in online)!

https://www.aei.org/events/education-policy-debate-should-democrats-support-education-savings-accounts/

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• Accusations, Tears And Rants: 5 Takeaways From Today’s Tech CEO Hearing (CNN, 1/31/24)

• A Balanced View Of Youth And Social Media (Mom Junction, 11/23/23)

• Florida Moves To Ban Social Media For Youth Under 16 (Axios, 1/25/24)

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This week on The Citizen Stewart Show, Chris and Ravi discussed…

• The Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project

• Analysis Exposes Trumpian Project 2025 as 'Far-Right Playbook for American Authoritarianism' (Common Dreams, 11/13/23)

• ‘America Is Under Attack’: Inside the Anti-D.E.I. Crusade (NYT, 1/20/24)

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• Moms For Liberty Co-Founder Defends De Facto Book Bans With 'Graphic' Example (MSNBC, 1/19/24)

• Is Moms For Liberty Collapsing In Florida And The Nation? (Tampa Bay Times, 12/7/23)

• Moms for Liberty Launches First New York City Chapter in Queens (The 74, 10/18/23)

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• Why Some States Are Opting Out of New Summer EBT Program (Chalkbeat, 1/10/24)

• Minnesota Schools Served 1 Million More Lunches In First Month Of Universal Free Meals (Axios, 1/10/24)

• Exclusive Data: Thousands of Schools at Risk of Closing Due to Enrollment Loss (The 74, 1/9/24)

• As Enrollment Declines, Districts Consider Closing Schools (EdWeek, 1/8/24)

And read here about pathbreaking educator, the late Linda Brown.

We’d love to hear from you!

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• When Free Speech and Racist Speech Collide (Inside Higher Ed, 6/22/20)
• As Campuses Reel, A Reminder Of The First Amendment’s Boundaries (FIRE,11/3/23)
• Bill Ackman’s Campaign Against Harvard Followed Years of Resentment (NYT, 12/12/23)
• Supremacists on Campus (Inside Higher Ed, 8/13/17)

AND 2023 Achievements that should give us hope

• Erin Reed details the wins that transgender Americans had last year.
• UNAIDS’s new report shows that AIDS can be ended by 2030 and outlines the path to get there.
• PBS reports researchers are making significant progress in mapping vital organs like the lung and brain while also striving to increase diversity in medical datasets, with the potential to democratize global healthcare.
• Smithsonian calls 2023 a breakthrough year for artificial intelligence in science, from aiding stroke patients to tracking migrating birds, but as its influence expands into various areas, experts also emphasize the importance of responsible regulation to address ethical concerns and potential risks.
• Quanta says the world of mathematics witnessed significant breakthroughs across various fields such as graph theory, combinatorics, number theory, and geometry. These breakthroughs unveiled new patterns and connections in mathematics, including advances in combinatorial problems, the exploration of modular forms, and the discovery of novel geometrical phenomena. Check out this well-produced video from Quanta showcasing the biggest math stories for 2023.

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• Gamification in Education: The Fun of Learning (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1/28/22)

• Dichev, C., Dicheva, D. Gamifying Education: What Is Known, What Is Believed And What Remains Uncertain: A Critical Review. Int J Educ Technol High Educ 14, 9 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-017-0042-5

• Study Finds Ohio Math Scores Improved With VR/Gamification (Government Technology, 6/23/23)

• A Decade Into Experiments With Gamification, Edtech Rethinks How to Motivate Learners (EdSurge, 5/9/23)

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• The Higher Education Model is Broken. Together We Can Fix It. (EdSurge, 3/31/22)
• Education Secretary: America’s Higher Education System Is ‘Broken’ (CSMonitor, 9/13/23)
• America’s Educational Superpower Is Fading (Bloomberg, 4/18/23)
• How to Really Fix Higher Ed (Atlantic, 5/31/22)
• UC Professors Push Back On Plan To Teach ‘viewpoint-Neutral’ Middle Eastern History (SFChronicle, 11/28/23)

- Report: 1.3M Teachers, 100,000 Professors Now Under ‘Educational Gag Orders’ (The 74, 11/19/23)

• Do State Takeovers Of School Districts Work? (Brookings, 10/24/23)
• Houston ISD Parents, Teachers Plea With State Board To End The Takeover (Chron, 11/16/23)

—

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Host Stacey Shells Harvey interviews Chris about his Huffington Post piece In The American Public Education System, Black Children Are The New Cotton.

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—

We’d love to hear from you!

• Leave us a voicemail at (321) 213-9171‬
• Or send us an email at citizenstewartshow@thebranchmedia.org

For more context, check out The Lost Debate’s coverage here:

• An Unbiased History Of Israel-Palestine (Part 1)
• An Unbiased History Of Israel-Palestine (Part 2)
• Who is Hamas?

—

We’d love to hear from you!

• Leave us a voicemail at (321) 213-9171‬
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Jay is the director of The Freedom Coalition for Charter Schools, an organization dedicated to promoting public charter schools and chartering to advance and protect the right of self-determination for Black and brown people.

—

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• Leave us a voicemail at (321) 213-9171‬

Or send us an email at citizenstewartshow@thebranchmedia.org

COSF is a non-partisan effort to support high quality K-12 education and preserve access, inclusion, and meaningful content in our schools so that every student has an opportunity to succeed and thrive.

---

We’d love to hear from you!

• Leave us a voicemail at (321) 213-9171‬
• Or send us an email at citizenstewartshow@thebranchmedia.org

We’d love to hear from you!

• Leave us a voicemail at (321) 213-9171‬
• Or send us an email at citizenstewartshow@thebranchmedia.org

We’d love to hear from you!

• Leave us a voicemail at (321) 213-9171‬
• Or send us an email at citizenstewartshow@thebranchmedia.org

They share a wide-ranging conversation and find common ground about the politics and practice of education. 

We’d love to hear from you!

• Leave us a voicemail at (321) 213-9171‬
• Or send us an email at citizenstewartshow@thebranchmedia.org

We’d love to hear from you!

• Leave us a voicemail at (321) 213-9171‬
• Or send us an email at citizenstewartshow@thebranchmedia.org

--

We’d love to hear from you!

• Leave us a voicemail at (321) 213-9171‬
• Or send us an email at citizenstewartshow@thebranchmedia.org

• The Secret History of School Choice: How Progressives Got There First (The Georgetown Law Journal, 4/1//05)

• The Progressive Case for K–12 Open Enrollment (EducationNext, 8/9/23)

• When Good Parents Go to Jail: The Criminalization of Address Sharing in Public Education (Available to All, 8/1/23)

• The Bipartisan Rejection of ‘School Choice’ (The Progressive Magazine, 6/15/22)

• I Helped Two Migrant Teens Enroll In Chicago Public Schools. It Was Anything But Straightforward. (Chalkbeat, 8/23/23)

• NYC Must Slash Class Sizes Under A New Law. The Neediest Schools Stand To Benefit Least. (Chalkbeat, 8/17/23)

Gary recently published a piece in which he surprisingly revealed that he’s a fan of the Citizen Stewart Show. So it felt like a great time to have him on the show to revisit some past disagreements and discuss a path forward for education in America.

• Dems Lose Historic Lead on Education in Battleground States (Democrats for Education Reform, 7/28/23)

• Florida Approves Use Of Conservative Content From 'Prager U' In Schools (WTSP, 7/26/23)

• California Moves To Silence Stanford Researchers Who Got State Data To Study Education Issues (EdSource, 7/28/23)

• Eighth Graders at LeBron James’ I Promise School Haven’t Passed a Single Math Test in Three Years, School Responds (Complex, 7/31/23)

• Chicago Eyes Dramatically Expanding Its Sustainable Community Schools Program (Chalkbeat, 7/31/23)

• Looking Back to Look Forward: Quantitative and Qualitative Reviews of the Past 20 Years of K-12 Education Assessment and Accountability Policy

• Supreme Court Rejects Race-Based Affirmative Action In College Admissions (WaPo, 6/29/23)

• Our Confidence In College Is Plummeting To A Shocking Degree. Here Are Likely Reasons Why (Fast Company, 7/12/23)

• Miami Dade College Expands High School ‘teaching Academies’ To Address Teacher Shortage (WLRN, 7/11/23)

• Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s About-Face on School Vouchers (City Journal, 7/10/23)

• California Needs Real Math Education, Not Gimmicks (Noahpinion, 7/8/23)

• The Federal Government Is Shelling Out $130 Million To Bring Free College To About 30,000 Inmates In Places Like Folsom Prison (Fortune, 6/28/23)

Check out Robert’s piece on ESAs here:

• Success of Educational Choice Laws Will Depend on Implementing Them with Excellence (EducationNext, 6/12/23)

• Stuyvesant High School Admitted 762 New Students. Only 7 Are Black. (NYT, 6/2/23)

Then, Chris and Ravi discussed…

• Opinion | In A Deep Red Florida County, A Student-Teacher Revolt Shames The Right (WaPo, 6/1/23) 

• ‘The Minnesota Miracle’ Should Serve as a Model for Democrats (WaPo, 6/4/23)

First up: President Obama’s Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan:

• Five Ways We Can Put Aside Partisan Politics And Think Big On Education (Washington Times, 10/18/21)

• Study Shows Parents Overestimate Their Student’s Academic Progress (PBS, 4/16/23)

• We Know How To Prevent Gun Violence. Now We Need To Scale It. (Stanford Social Innovation Review, 7/14/22)

Next: Stacey Shells Harvey from The Branch’s Sweat the Technique podcast:

• New Bill Would Eliminate Retention Under Ohio’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee (Ohio Capital Journal, 3/22/23)

• Third Grade Retention - What Does The Research Say About Retaining Students In Third Grade For Not Being Able To Read At Grade Level? (Regional Education Laboratory Program, 10/1/19)

• Florida mandates Asian American History:
• Desantis Criticized For Mandating Asian American History While Banning Courses On 'Systemic Racism' (NBC, 5/17/23)

• Do we have it all wrong about screens?
• Digital Games Beat Out Lectures When It Comes to Student Learning (EdWeek, 5/17/23)

• How Technology Is Changing The Way We Teach Kids To Read (MIT Technology Review, 4/19/23)

Share your thoughts on this episode! Leave us a voicemail at 321-213-9171 or send an email to citizenstewartshow@thebranchmedia.org.

• Why Is Our Society So Lenient Toward Parents Who Mistreat Their Kids? (New York Post, 4/22/23)

• False Alarm: How Wisconsin Uses Race and Income to Label Students “High Risk” (The Markup, 4/27/23)

• Opinion | Randi Weingarten’s Incredible COVID Memory Loss (WSJ, 4/30/23)
• Here's What AFT’s Randi Weingarten Said About Reopening Schools During COVID-19 (PolitiFact, 5/2/23)

• Bernita Bradley, founder of Engaged Detroit
• The Rise of Black Homeschooling (The New Yorker, 6/21/21)

• Janelle Wood, President of The Black Mothers Forum
• Black Arizona Mothers Launch Micro-Schools To Foster Safe, Supportive Learning Environments (Black Enterprise, 1/27/22)

• Asbury Park Third-Graders Need More Than Phonics To Learn to Read: Here’s What We’re Missing (NJ Education Report, 4/18/23)

• Students Are Ditching College For Trade Programs Teaching Hard Skills: ‘Finally, I Feel Like I’m Going To Accomplish Something In Life’ (Fortune, 4/17/23)

• Ravi's: Is The GOP Winning The Education Message Wars? (Imbroglio, 3/28/23)

• Chris': Neither Political Party Has An 'Education' Message Worth Hearing (Always Learning, 4/3/23)

• Plus some discussion of our Regressives episodes about affirmative action:
• A Funeral For Affirmative Action
• The Problem With College Admissions

Also, make sure to check out our Sweat the Technique podcast, featuring veteran educators talking about lessons learned from schools. 

And we’ve rebranded! We’re now The Branch. Read all about it here.

The differential treatment of black and white girls in public education:

• Angel Reese Can Shine as Brightly as She Wants (Atlantic, 4/5/23)

And black homeschooling and educational autonomy:

• Black Families Look to Continue Pod Schooling Movement Beyond Pandemic (The 74, 11/17/22)

• Gen Z Former Social Media Addict Knows Instagram Destroys Young Lives (New York Post, 9/25/21)

• Don’t Let Politics Cloud Your View of What’s Going On With Teens and Depression (NYT, 2/24/23)

• Why the Mental Health of Liberal Girls Sank First and Fastest (After Babel, 3/1/23)

What’s making them think: 

• Utah's New Social Media Law Means Children Will Need Approval From Parents (NPR, 3/24/23)

• The Status Of Anti-Drag Show Bills Across The Country (Time, 3/15/23)

What’s making them mad: 

• Quinta Brunson's Response To An Education CEO Who Tried To Call Her Out For An "Abbott Elementary" Storyline Has Me Cackling Laughing (Buzzfeed, 3/18/23)

And Educational Savings Accounts with guest Adam Peshek of the Stand Together Trust:

• ESAs Don’t Need the Charter Treatment (Permissionless Education, 2/21/23)

A trending video of a teacher engaging with her students. 

What’s making them think: 

• It's Time To Stop Giving Homework (Human Restoration Project, 3/4/23)

And an enlightening interview with Michael Goldstein, founder of Match Charter Public Schools in Massachusetts and former CAO of Bridge International Academies.

• Beyond Moneyball: Data-Driven Education Boosted by Observation and Judgment (Education Next, 11/16/21)

The dark forces at play in our schools:

• Who’s Stopping The Government From Giving Americans Relief From Crushing Student Loans (CNN, 2/28/23)

And what’s making them think: 

• Is It Any Surprise Young People Are Turning To Tiktok To Learn About Sex? (Cosmo UK, 1/3/23)

• When To Start Talking About Sexual Health With Your Child: Earlier Than You Think. (Mayo Clinic, 9/30/22)

And some listener mail:

• Do We Really Need To Transform Our Education System? (School Performance Institute, 12/1/22)

The dark forces at play in our schools:

• ‘Brainwashing a Generation’: British Schools Combat Andrew Tate’s Views (NYT, 2/19/23)

• We Won't Survive Another Generation Of Lost Boys (Always Learning, 1/11/23)

What’s making them think: 

• The Parent Test Stokes American Parenting’s Worst Impulses (Atlantic, 2/22/23)

And more on Educational Savings Accounts:

• ESAs Don’t Need the Charter Treatment (Permissionless Education, 2/21/23)

• Chicken Coops, Trampolines and Tickets to SeaWorld: What Some Parents are Buying with Education Savings Accounts (The 74, 2/7/23)

The dark forces at play in our schools:

• 23 Baltimore Schools Have Zero Students Proficient In Math, Per State Test Results (Fox, 2/6/23)

And what’s making them think: 

• When School Reform Is Not Enough (FutureEd, 2/9/23)

And make sure to check out the Imbroglio newsletter and Sweat the Technique podcast - two new education focused offerings from The Lost Debate!

The dark forces at play in our schools:

• Hillsdale-Linked Charter School Group Will Try Again in Tennessee (Chalkbeat, 12/5/22)

And what’s making them think: 

• The High School We Need (Lost Debate, 1/31/23)

In this first episode, Ravi sits down with Sweat the Technique co-host Doug Lemov, K-12 expert and author of the international bestseller Teach Like a Champion. Ravi and Doug discuss how lessons from teaching and running schools can be applied to the broader world.

The Citizen Stewart Show will be back with a new episode later this week, and new episodes of Sweat the Technique will drop every Wednesday on the Sweat the Technique feed.

What’s making them mad:

• Are Standardized Tests Racist, or Are They Anti-racist? Yes. (Atlantic, 1/23/23)

What’s making them think: 

• Study Finds School Vouchers Decrease Racial Segregation in Ohio Classrooms (The 74, 1/24/23)

And make sure to check out Imbroglio, a newsletter from Lost Debate about how we bring about the education revolution!

TFA downsizing:

• Teach For America To Cut A Quarter Of Staff In Latest Shakeup (Chalkbeat, 1/20/23)

What’s making them mad:

• Justices Will Consider Reviving Lawsuit From Deaf Student Who Was Denied Sign-Language Interpreter (ScotusBlog, 1/14/23)

What’s making them think:

• The Coming School-Discipline Wars (National Review, 1/21/23)

And some inside baseball: how ed reform has its own bureaucracy

• The End of School Reform? (National Affairs, Winter 2023)

Some listener mail about a proposal for a county-wide school board, and the difficulties parents face access special education for their children.

• Paid Countywide School Board? One Area Lawmaker Proposes Giving It A 10-Year Tryout (The Morning Call, 1/6/23)

What’s making them mad:

• New York City’s Pre-K System Was a Model. Now Employees Say It’s a Mess. (NYT, 1/6/23)

And what’s making them think: 

• Graduation Must Depend on Learning, Not Time (EdWeek, 10/12/21)

An article from a listener:

• In One Giant Classroom, Four Teachers Manage 135 Kids – and Love It (The 74, 1/6/23)

What’s making them mad:

• Muzzled by DeSantis, Critical Race Theory Professors Cancel Courses or Modify Their Teaching (ProPublica, 1/3/23)

• DeSantis To Scrutinize Higher Ed Programs For Diversity, Critical-Race Theory Activities (Miami Herald, 1/4/23)

And what’s making them think: 

• How The Supreme Court Can Protect Charter Schools From Suffocating Litigation (WaPo, 1/4/23)

What’s making them mad:

• Ex-NYU Admin Siphoned $3.5m In Grants And Blew Cash On Herself — Including An $80k Pool: Prosecutors (New York Post, 12/19/22)

What’s making them think: 

• Chicago Public Schools Spent $308 Million On Technology Since March 2020. Now What? (Chalkbeat, 12/13/22)

And a new segment: Ravi’s Radical Ideas™

What’s making them mad:

• A Fast-Growing Network of Conservative Groups Is Fueling a Surge in Book Bans (NYT, 12/12/22)

And what’s making them think: 

• American Family Policy Is Holding Schools Back (Atlantic, 9/28/22)

What’s making them mad: Our Schools’ Looming Fiscal Cliff

• Fiscal Cliff Could Force Layoffs of the Best Teachers (Education Next, 12/6/22)

What’s making them think: Trouble at Teach for America

• As Pandemic Complicates Recruitment, Teach For America’s Incoming Class Expected To Hit A 15-Year Low (Chalkbeat, 3/8/22)

 What’s making them hopeful: A PA School Making Education a Family Affair

• A Unique Philadelphia School Cultivates Family Members As Staffers (Chalkbeat, 12/8/22)

And don’t forget to email us or leave us a voicemail!

• citizenstewartshow@lostdebate.com
• (321) 213-9171‬

What’s making them mad: Broken Sped

• Public Schools Are NYC’s Main Youth Mental Health System. Where Kids Land Often Depends on What Their Parents Can Pay (ProPublica, 11/17/22)

What’s making them think: AARP for Parents

• Parents Need Their Own AARP (Atlantic, 11/18/22)

And what’s making them hopeful: Supercharged Tutoring

• $10 Million For 31 Groups Working to Make Tutoring More Available & Affordable (The 74, 11/22/22)

And don’t forget to email us or leave us a voicemail!

• citizenstewartshow@lostdebate.com
• (321) 213-9171‬

What’s making them mad: Bribery in Michigan

• Former President of the Madison District Public Schools Board of Education and a Local Contractor Charged in $560,000 Bribery Scheme (DOJ, 7/14/22)

What’s making them think: Activism in Public Education

• Public Education Is Drifting From Its Founding Ideals And Public Purpose (Fordham Institute, 11/17/22)

What’s making them hopeful: Charter Schools Gaining Students in NYC

• As New York City Schools Face a Crisis, Charter Schools Gain Students (NYT, 11/21/22)

What’s making them mad: Corruption in Stockton

• Incompetence Or Corruption At Stockton Unified; It’s Got To Be One Or The Other (Stocktonia, 6/22/22)

• Possible Financial Catastrophe: Grand Jury Details Stockton Unified School District's Money Mismanagement (NBC, 6/17/22)

What’s making them think: The Math Backlash Cycle

• How Math Became an Object of the Culture Wars (New Yorker, 11/15/22)

• The $1.1 Billion Math Solution? Gates Foundation Makes Math Its Top K-12 Priority (The 74, 10/19/22)

And what’s making them hopeful: Upending Traditional Subject Structure

• Rethinking High School: Upending Traditional Subject Structure in Indiana (The 74, 11/15/22)

What’s making them hopeful:

• Turnout for Young People Was the Second Highest Its Been in the Past 30 Years (NPR, 11/10/22)

• The School-Choice Election Wave (Wall Street Journal, 11/10/22)

• GOP School Boards: How Republicans Fared in School Board Elections All Over the Country (USA Today, 11/9/22)

What’s making them think: 

• This School Took Away Smartphones. The Kids Don’t Mind. (Wall Street Journal, 11/5/22)

• Take Away Their Cell Phones (Education Next)

Then discussed what’s making them mad:

• Why Aren’t We Talking About Eugenics in School Assessments? (Learning Equity Center)

• Why the Academic Achievement Gap is a Racist Idea (Black Perspectives, 10/20/16)

• The Racist Beginnings of Standardized Testing (NEA, 3/20/21)

What's making them mad:

• Youngkin’s Education Tip Line Gripes: ‘Beowulf,’ Masks and ‘Grooming’ (WaPo, 11/3/22)
• How Education Culture Wars Have Shaped the Midterms (Vox, 11/4/22)

What's making them hopeful:

• Student ‘Peace Warriors’ at Chicago’s West Side Schools Spread Message of Nonviolence (Chalkbeat, 11/3/22)
• Kids Were Fighting in School. Dads Began Patrolling Campus, and the Violence Stopped (Washington Post, 10/28/21)

What's making them think:

• Why Randi Weingarten Supports Harvard’s Discrimination (WSJ, 10/30/22)

What’s making them angry:

Abbott Elementary misrepresenting charter schools in “Wrong Delivery” (9/28/22)

Charter Schools Get Better Results with Less Money Than Government‐Run Schools (Cato Institute, 10/10/19)

There Are Just 90 LGBTQ School Board Members. Half Were Threatened, Harassed (The 74, 10/25/22) 

‘Unsafe, Unwelcoming’: LGBTQ Students Report Facing Hostility at School (Chalkbeat, 10/25/22)

What’s making them hopeful: 

Mississippi Ranks No. 1 in Nation for Score Gains on National Assessment of Educational Progress (MSAchieves, 10/30/19)

And what’s making them think: 

School Closures Were a Failed Policy (The Atlantic, 10/26/22)

What’s making them angry: abuse in schools and its aftermath

• Teachers Who Sexually Abuse Students Still Find Classroom Jobs (USA Today, 12/22/16)
• LAUSD Has Paid Out More Than $300 Million Over Sex Abuse (LA Times, 5/14/16)
• $52-Million Settlement for Kids Sexually Abused by former L.A. Unified Wrestling Coach (LA Times, 10/12/22)

What’s making them hopeful: the success of Chinese immersion schools in the Bay Area

• Why Oakland Parents Are Flocking to a Chinese-Immersion School (The New Yorker, 10/18/22)

What’s making them think: balancing the outcomes of equity and success in our schools

• Why It’s Time to Talk About Equity and Excellence (Ed Post, 9/28/22)

Preview for next week's show: Abbott Elementary and the charter school debate

• Abbott Elementary S2 E2: “Wrong Delivery”, 9/28/22 (watch here) 
• Charter Schools Get Better Results with Less Money Than Government‐Run Schools (Cato Institute, 10/10/19)